The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

A group of activists sets fire to a statue of Borba Gato, a symbol of slavery, in São Paulo

2021-07-25T00:23:06.766Z


Protesters call for the monument to be removed after the demolitions of slave symbols in the US following the murder of George Floyd


A 13-meter statue in homage to Manuel Borba Gato (1649-1718), an explorer who became rich during the times of slavery, was set on fire this Saturday in São Paulo by a group of activists.

The monument, inaugurated in 1963 that is part of the city's landscape, is dedicated to the discoverer who forged his heritage during the mining period of the 18th century in the interior of Brazil, taking land and enslaving indigenous people and blacks.

The elite of São Paulo is proud of this type of personages, who have a controversial validity in the XXI century.

The act was assumed by a group called Peripheral Revolution, which shared on social networks the images of the moment when the statue caught fire. In the videos, several young people with masks are seen throwing tires and flammable liquids to set the monument on fire. The flames rose rapidly, as did the smoke in the Santo Amaro neighborhood, where the monument is located. The event, however, was quickly controlled.

The State Public Security Secretariat is investigating the episode. The work of the sculptor Julio Guerra (1912-São Paulo, 2001) had already been painted in 2016, along with the Monument to the Flags, another symbol of Brazilian exploration in the city. Several groups are calling for the statue to be removed, in a move that gained momentum last year after beheadings and demolitions of slave symbols in the United States sparked by the wave of anti-racist protests with the death of George Floyd.

“Borba Gato, explorer, was a slave owner responsible for the death of indigenous peoples during the internalization of Brazilian territory.

Today, the statue of Borba Gato, located in the homonymous neighborhood of the Santo Amaro district, pays tribute to his genocidal biography, "describes one of the online petitions addressed to the Municipal Department of Culture demanding the removal of the statue.

“We, the [ethnic] Guaranís of São Paulo, feel humiliated every time we pass by this statue.

Borba Gato was a murderer of indigenous peoples and cannot be considered a hero ”, argues another petition.

On social media, the Peripheral Revolution group also appears posting posters in some parts of the city with the question: "Do you know who Borba Gato was?"

The figure of explorers as a symbol of São Paulo gained strength at the time of the 1932 Revolution - when São Paulo faced President Getulio Vargas - and the rulers of the capital needed arguments to unite the population around a sentiment common. Thus, the explorer, or “bandeirante”, as they are known in São Paulo, began to be portrayed as a hero, to the detriment of the history of more than 300,000 Indians captured and enslaved by exploration missions. “The symbolism of these tributes has value and although it is not as representative as in the past, it still strengthens the memory. There is no point in having these symbols. They should be overthrown, "Guaraní indigenous professor Jurandir Augusto Martim told journalist Regiane Oliveira in 2017.

Join EL PAÍS now to follow all the news and read without limits

Subscribe here

Source: elparis

All news articles on 2021-07-25

You may like

Trends 24h

News/Politics 2024-03-28T06:04:53.137Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.